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Agricultural Pesticide Use Trends and Policy Issues

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  • Osteen, Craig D.
  • Szmedra, Philip I.

Abstract

Pesticides used on major crops increased from 225 million pounds of active ingredient (the material in a pesticide product that controls pests) in 1964 to 558 million pounds in 1982. Rapid growth in the use of herbicides led that dramatic increase. Farmers increased their use of pesticides on corn and soybeans to a greater extent than on other crops during that period. Insecticide use on cotton fell, probably because the pyrethroid insecticides, which are applied at low rates, were introduced in the late 1970's. Since 1980, pesticide use has stabilized or declined. Regulatory decisions that removed pesticides from the market if health or environmental risks outweighed the economic benefits may have reduced the variety of pesticides available to farmers. But, those decisions apparently have not slowed the growth of pesticide use

Suggested Citation

  • Osteen, Craig D. & Szmedra, Philip I., 1989. "Agricultural Pesticide Use Trends and Policy Issues," Agricultural Economic Reports 308081, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uerser:308081
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.308081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ollinger, Michael & Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, 1998. "Innovation and Regulation in the Pesticide Industry," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 15-27, April.
    2. Ollinger, Michael & Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, 1995. "Regulation, Innovation, and Market Structure in the U.S. Pesticide Industry," Agricultural Economic Reports 308425, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Ribaudo, Marc & Shoemaker, Robbin A., 1995. "The Effect Of Feedgrain Program Participation On Chemical Use," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 1-10, October.
    4. Swinton, Scott M. & King, Robert P., 1990. "Weedsim: A Bioeconomic Model Of Weed Management In Corn," Staff Papers 14164, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    5. Feather, Peter & Cooper, Joseph C., 1995. "Voluntary Incentives for Reducing Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Pollution," Agricultural Information Bulletins 33619, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. Ben-Haim, Yakov & Osteen, Craig D. & Moffitt, L. Joe, 2013. "Policy dilemma of innovation: An info-gap approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 130-138.
    7. Shumway, C. Richard & Chesser, Rayanne R., 1994. "Pesticide Tax, Cropping Patterns, And Water Quality In South Central Texas," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 26(1), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Shoemaker, Robbin A. & Malik, Arun S., 1993. "Optimal Cost-Sharing Programs to Reduce Agricultural Pollution," Technical Bulletins 157045, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. James S. Shortle & Andrew Laughland, 1994. "Impacts Of Taxes To Reduce Agrichemical Use When Farm Policy Is Endogenous," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 3-14, January.
    10. Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge & Nehring, Richard & Osteen, Craig & Wechsler, Seth James & Martin, Andrew & Vialou, Alex, 2014. "Pesticide Use in U.S. Agriculture: 21 Selected Crops, 1960-2008," Economic Information Bulletin 178462, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    11. Whittaker, Gerald W. & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Vasavada, Utpal, 1995. "Restricting Pesticide Use: The Impact On Profitability By Farm Size," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Knutson, Ronald D., 1990. "External Influences on Agriculture: Societal, Environmental and Global Economy," Policy Issues Papers 257861, Texas A&M University, Agricultural and Food Policy Center.
    13. Wilson, Clevo & Tisdell, Clem, 2001. "Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 449-462, December.
    14. Ollinger, Michael & Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, 1998. "Sunk costs and regulation in the U.S. pesticide industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 139-168, March.
    15. Carlson, Gerald A. & Shui, Shangnan, 1991. "Farm Programs And Pesticide Demand," 1991 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Manhattan, Kansas 271369, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

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